ROCKFORD — Leaders of the union representing Rockford Police Department officers on Wednesday called for a “full, fair and impartial” investigation into what should have been a routine welfare check Oct. 30.

Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey said he’ll decline the union’s request for a probe involving Police Chief Chet Epperson and what officers may have overheard him saying to NAACP Rockford Branch President Lloyd Johnston on speaker phone.

Police Union President Terry Peterson gathered with union leaders in the Public Safety Building lobby Wednesday for a news conference asking Morrissey and the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners to seek an “independent investigation of the incident.”

“We are confident in the integrity, character and credibility of our member officers who responded to the incident,” Peterson said. “We would welcome such an investigation. We believe this investigation should examine all parties involved, including the chief of police.”

Morrissey said the situation at Johnston’s house was resolved successfully: police conducted their welfare check and it was done without anyone getting hurt.

“That is textbook for what you do in a situation like that,” Morrissey said. “You pause, you send a supervisor. And guess what? It got resolved.”

Officers were dispatched to Johnston’s home Oct. 30 after his ex-wife, living in New York, reported a possible fight she heard over the phone involving their grown son, who lives with Johnston, before the line went dead. The fight report turned out to be false, but police officers couldn’t know that when they first responded to the scene. Peterson said they were obligated to thoroughly investigate the “domestic-related” report.

Johnston said the officers were overly aggressive and hostile, wanting to come inside before explaining why they were there. He declined to allow them inside without a warrant.

But officers were insistent and told him they would come in the house to check on his son “one way or other” even if that meant they “had to kick the door in,” Officer D’Evyron Boone wrote in his report.

The report was obtained and shared by WNTA radio host Ken DeCoster. A Rockford Register Star request for the report made under the Freedom of Information Act was rejected.

Johnston called Epperson and conducted a conversation via speaker phone, according to the report.

Officers recognized Epperson’s voice as the chief said “don’t let them in the house and tell them to leave.” Epperson said he was calling “for a supervisor to come to his house,” the police officer’s report said.

Johnston has said that Epperson never said for the officers to leave.

Epperson did not immediately respond to a message seeking his comments. He previously referred comments to city administration concerning the incident.

The situation was resolved when a supervisor arrived and Johnston’s son came out on the porch unharmed.

No one was arrested. There was never a struggle for the phone, Johnston and his son said.

The incident is said to be the subject of an internal police investigation to discover who leaked the report, but the scope of the investigation is not clear.

Peterson would not say whether he felt Epperson acted improperly or against department policy, saying an independent investigation would determine that. Peterson said the chief is subject to the same policies and regulations as officers.

“We’ve all sworn the same oath of office,” Peterson said.

Morrissey said a police report regarding the incident was leaked to news media only after officers involved in the welfare check were questioned about their actions because of a resident's complaint.

“These are big issues for us in how we deal with these type of situations,” Morrissey said, adding that officers are trained to respect residents and their rights. “Our goal is to defuse conflict if we can. We defused the conflict, the thing got resolved and so the chief’s advice, which he gave to command staff, was to send a supervisor and it worked. The issue of what the chief said to Lloyd is irrelevant.”